notes:
=====

- this dataset brings together constituency-level results for by-elections to 
the uk house of commons since the 1982 general election

- the results are compiled from http://electionhub.co.uk/

        - at the time of the compilation, there were some errors in the source, 
        and these are manually corrected with data from elsewhere --- 
        house of commons, wikipedia, eggers & spirling database
        
        - some results were missing and these are added manually from the 
        same alternative sources above
        
        - it is highly likely that there remain some errors. please use 
        with caution and report any errors that you might notice to resul at 
        resulumit@gmail.com
        
        - the turnout variable is missing for several elections
        
        - the date variable may not be accurate for some elections, especially
        for the older ones, not least because by-elections could be held over 
        multiple days in the past

- the dataset can be cited as "umit, r. 2022. by-elections to the uk house of 
commons. harvard dataverse, version [version number]. available at 
https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/KN5Y7V."